For 4 mana, Sylvan Messenger doesn't have too dramatic an immediate impact, and can whiff pretty hard. Sometimes you'll spend 4 mana for a 2/2 elf, with no added benefit apart from getting 4 nonelfs off the top of your library. That hurts, and will happen ~6% of the time; when that happens, you probably lose the game. The typical outcome of getting 2 elves is not too bad, though, making it roughly playable.

3 weeks ago

Okay, let me premise this with, I've not played a ton of elves decks outside of casual settings, so I may not actually know what I'm doing. Having said that, perhaps you could use something like Nissa Revane for some extra life or elves, though Nissa's Chosen probably isn't the best card for modern play. Dwynen, Gilt-Leaf Daen or Immaculate Magistrate could also work.

1 month ago

Thanks for the feedback guys this is really helpful. I have seen that land Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx before and I really wanted to add it in so that just reassures me to do just that. If I clean it up a little and throw in the Elvish Champion and lets say I throw away my Nissa's Chosen for the Reclamation Sage what if my opponents don't use those often? It would just be a simple 2/1 where as the chosen is a 2/3, wouldn't the extra life make up for the lack of ability? I also wouldn't mind using the Heritage Druid combo but I have never done it before so not entirely sure how to go about using it properly.

1 month ago

My main problem with this deck is the Nissa Revane and, more to the point Nissa's Chosen. I can kind of see why you would play Nissa herself, as she completely destroys certain decks COUGH BURN COUGH if they don't immediately kill her, but her chosen is just... not a good card, and to be honest, she's too slow for modern. Also, the Priest of Titania in the maybeboard isn't modern legal. ;)

My first addition would be Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx. I cannot sing the praises of this card enough. It lets you play out your entire hand, it lets you activate Ezuri, Renegade Leader multiple times, and it's just generally insane. Also, fifteen lands is not enough. I wouldn't recommend any less than 17, and thats if you play the full 8 1-mana dorks.

Other than that, I would have to know whether you want to go for a more combo (Heritage Druid) route, or stick with aggro.

1 month ago

This deck is fine as it is, but if you want to shift more into competitive, ambassador oak cost too much mana for what it does. If you look at your curve, you are very low on 1 drops. That is a problem I see here, as elves are really low to the ground, and known for their very low mana costs.

Running mainboard hate, unless it targets every single other deck in your meta, is generally considered to be unwise, as instead of casting a 3 mana removal spell, you could've just cast another elf to help you win. Basically, it is better, game 1, to be advancing your strategy, than to try to disrupt your opponent, unless that is the sole purpose of your deck. An elf deck is generally always creature heavy, and doesn't require mainboard hate.

Below are some steps I'd take to polish this deck up, as your average CMC is way too high for the amount of lands and mana sources you have. Sorry for making this really long, but please bear with me.

Now you only have 11 lands. I suggest you run around 18~19 if you want to be more aggressive, or 20~21. Lets go with 19, as that is still more aggressive, while staying safer.

You'd need 8 more lands for that. Now, this is where I explain why the 4 forests and the swamps were cut. You generally want to make all your black sources dual lands, as you rarely ever want to have swamp as one of the few lands in your opening hand. That only causes you to make unnecessary mulligans. I'll suggest 8 dual lands on the cheaper side, but if you want, you can always change to more expensive ones.

-1x Dwynen's Elite These are very great, as you get 3 power/toughness split among 2 bodies for the cost of 1 (of course, this is only because you have a heck ton of 1 drops).

-2x Collected Company These are really powerful, as you can get 2 elves all at instant speed.

-3x Chord of Calling. This is where I will explain why we cut elvish promenade. It is a really powerful card, and one of my favorites, but is overkill, doesn't work with collected company, and is not as good as chord of calling. Chord is another place where heritage druid shines, as each of these essentially lower the cost of chord by 1 (as they tap for convoke, then untap right after). Chord of calling also lets you tutor for your sideboard creatures, or even any other elf, all at instant speed.

-2x Thornweald Archer. You ran many anti flying cards mainboard, so I put this here. It serves a similar purpose, having reach and deathtouch, and is an elf, allowing it to be tutored, hit by coco, or to make mana off of Heritage Druid or Elvish Archdruid. Can also be used as a deathtouch attacker if need be. Very versatile.

-2x Abrupt Decay, or even 2x Fatal Push. the second option is more expensive. really depends on how many death's shadow decks are lingering around your LGS. decay is less effective against that, but has a wider range of targets, and is a better sideboard overall.

-1x Nissa Revane since you really like nissa, this is the one you should use. Is actually modern playable.

I hope some of this helps! If you have any questions or concerns, you can leave it on my wall userpage thing. +1 from me. Have a great day!

answering your question, a non nissa elvish planeswalker would be Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury, although she is secretly only half elf and half human, is not modern legal, and died killing a hole in space.

1 month ago

Nissa Revane Is relatively good in less aggro elf decks, but ends up being too slow for much use in commander, and in duel she's needs some control andf removal to be of any worth, like Winter Orb and such. Just too expensive for little life gain and a single 2-3 Elf Nissa's Chosen, repeatable or not. Thanks for checking it out!!

2 months ago

The following are cards you should cut:Nissa Revane: this card is very bad, and it is only remotely playable alongside Nissa's Chosen. Life gain is pretty shitty in every matchup except storm and burn, and this card being four mana is just not worth it most of the time.Essence Warden: see the argument against nissa.Prism Ring:see above.Heedless One: big creatures aren't great in elves, which is typically a go wide strategy which would only be hampered by the addition of an expensive fattie that dies to removal. One of modern elves' biggest strengths is resilience to spot removal due to its swarm of little dudes, and this card goes against that completely.Might of the Masses: The above argument applies to this too, and might opens you up to too many 2 for 1s.Temple of Malady: Temples are far too slow for a deck trying to deploy dorks on turn 1. The scry is also usually not great since you get to see so much of your deck with Collected Company and Elvish Visionary. I would consider 4 Gilt-Leaf Palace or Overgrown Tomb instead as they are faster and more consistent.

I would consider playing 2 of either Chord of Calling or Eldritch Evolution as they would be very good while you are comboing off. Speaking of comboing off, your deck doesn't seem to be able to do so due to the lack of Heritage Druid, and to a lesser extent Nettle Sentinel. This 2 card combo( or just Druid alone) can allow you to power out your entire hand in a turn easily to just take over the game. I would not be opposed to 1-2 Ezuri, Renegade Leader either, as he can regenerate archdruids or pump your team.I'm not saying your deck is bad, I'm just saying elves in modern has so much explosive potential and I feel you aren't abusing it as much as you could be.

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